Outerbridge Crossing Staten Island / NJ On Ice!

[TulsaJohn]

I did get hit in the second video, I did drop the F Bomb, very little damage to my vehicle, but check out the guy running on Ice!

 

[DT MI]

Yeah, wet ice is a major b--ch. All you can do is drive slow and leave lots of room in front of you and hope the guy behind you is doing the same thing.

I've noticed that 4WD vehicles are usually the biggest offenders for driving too fast in these conditions. Drivers seem to think that since they can go forward better they can also stop better and that simply is not true.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Minimally, I would not be running around on the ice! Good to hear you only had minor damage .

 

[Error7]

So you get out of your car, leave the drivers door wide open to make it easier for passing vehicles to hit, and then leave it in neutral with the parking brake off!!!

 

[Mark S-H]

Many years ago, I was taught by an advanced motorist in the UK to try to use your brakes as little as possible or not at all when driving on ice and use the gears to slow you down. This keeps the driving wheels controlling the vehicle and maintaining traction with the road. Just touch the brake pedal at the same time if you have anyone behind so that the brake lights come on. This advice has served me well!

 

[Gibson99]

Many years ago, I was taught by an advanced motorist to try to use your brakes as little as possible or not at all when driving on ice and use the gears to slow you down. This keeps the driving wheels controlling the vehicle and maintaining traction with the road. Just touch the brake at the same time if you have anyone behind so that the brake lights come on. This advice has served me well!

driver's ed here in the US is... lacking. basically they tell you red = stop, green = go, here's your license. plus with only about 3% of cars here being sold with a manual, almost nobody knows how to drive them.

 

[Tim]

So you get out of your car, leave the drivers door wide open to make it easier for passing vehicles to hit, and then leave it in neutral with the parking brake off!!!

HA! Was just going to say the same thing! Got to love NYC drivers!
CHEERS!

 

[Mark S-H]

driver's ed here in the US is... lacking. basically they tell you red = stop, green = go, here's your license. plus with only about 3% of cars here being sold with a manual, almost nobody knows how to drive them.

Thanks for that, the link is to a most fascinating article. I never realized that there were so few vehicles with manual gearboxes in the US.

If you pass your driving test in the UK in a vehicle with a manual gearbox, then you are also permitted to drive a vehicle with automatic transmission. However, if you pass your test in a vehicle with automatic transmission, then you are not permitted to drive a vehicle with a manual gearbox. I do not know the statistics but I think there is probably about 50/50 split of manual and automatic transmissions in the UK.

In the UK, I was even taught how to drive a manual transmission vehicle without using the clutch. There was only one time I needed this knowledge when my clutch broke and I managed to drive it quite a few miles to a garage.

 

[Gibson99]

there's no certification for m/t here.

i too have had to limp home, relying on the syncros to shift, when the clutch master cylinder quit on me... it was really weird to feel the car move in first while holding the clutch (to start the engine). but i also rolled a few red lights and stop signs because nobody was coming and i REALLY didn't want to have to stop. once i was on the freeway i was fine, it was just the surface streets that were a challenge.

also useful: the ability to push start it when your battery's dead. done that before, too.

it's kinda funny if i ever have to do a panic stop in my wife's (automatic) minivan, i usually catch myself stomping air with my left foot.

 

[Tim]

Thanks for that, the link is to a most fascinating article. I never realized that there were so few vehicles with manual gearboxes in the US.

If you pass your driving test in the UK in a vehicle with a manual gearbox, then you are also permitted to drive a vehicle with automatic transmission. However, if you pass your test in a vehicle with automatic transmission, then you are not permitted to drive a vehicle with a manual gearbox. I do not know the statistics but I think there is probably about 50/50 split of manual and automatic transmissions in the UK.

In the UK, I was even taught how to drive a manual transmission vehicle without using the clutch. There was only one time I needed this knowledge when my clutch broke and I managed to drive it quite a few miles to a garage.

When growing up in upstate New York, all the cars I owned had a manual transmission. I never had to shift much because towns were spread apart pretty good and you got roll at highway speeds most of the time. Then I moved south toward the NYC area and continued with manuals. In 1989 I bought a Pontic Grand AM with a manual tranny and a "Quad 4" motor. It was not on the lot. I had to order the car and have built. Two months later it was delivered and was the was the last manual that I owned. In the new neighborhood you sat at stop lights more than moving. I put more walking miles on my feet from shifting than actual walking. An auto tranny looked better and better as the days went on!

 

[DT MI]

....it's kinda funny if i ever have to do a panic stop in my wife's (automatic) minivan, i usually catch myself stomping air with my left foot.

It's surprising how often I catch myself doing the same thing as well.

 

[Mark S-H]

it's kinda funny if i ever have to do a panic stop in my wife's (automatic) minivan, i usually catch myself stomping air with my left foot.

It's surprising how often I catch myself doing the same thing as well.

Yes, I must admit that the rare times that I drive a vehicle with automatic transmission, I to have to try to remember that there is no clutch pedal. Then I just tuck my left leg up against the seat under my right leg then I can drive it without needing to remember.

 

[M---]

WTF is up with the Infiniti in neutral / no parking brake???

My last car was a manual Accord. Great car. One time I unintentionally shifted without the clutch-- I was slowing down for traffic (on this hill:

), and heard a loud BANG as I pushed on the clutch to shift from 3rd to 2nd. Clutch pedal instantly went mushy. I matched the engine RPM to 2nd gear, as I always did, and it felt slightly different as I pulled the stick into 2nd gear. The light was red I figured I'd better pull off the street to see what was wrong with the clutch pedal. Car wasn't downshifting into 1st, either.

The Accord's clutch master cylinder was fastened to the firewall with two studs. One of the studs had snapped, so when I pushed on the clutch, the master cylinder just bent out of the way, didn't actually push any fluid. Got a tow to my mechanic and left the car there with a note.

@Gibson99, it didn't even occur to me to just drive it, and have the car jerk itself to a start by cranking it while engaged in 1st! Also thinking about it, it was either New Year's Eve, or Christmas Eve, and I was happy that I was able to get a tow at all, and only had to wait half an hour for the tow truck. The major tow companies had multi-hour waits, but I kept calling the little guys, and found an o/o who was about to call it quits for the day, and I was on his way gome. Can't remember how I got home-- it must've been by bus, but I can't remember it at all. I think I was living in the suburbs then, too. It must've been a long bus ride-- no wonder I've blocked out the memory!

 

[Gibson99]

it didnt occur to me either, but someone suggested it, having done it themselves when the clutch cable snapped on their mustang. that was one of the good parts of where my car broke - it was at an autocross, where most folks know quite a bit about mechanicals of cars, and know how to drive m/t. i made it home, about 65 miles away. thankfully 60 of that was interstate and i could still use cruise control.